Brothers Again
by ROSSELLA1
Summary: Michael and Lucifer's bond was shattered. Now, all they have is each other. Can they succeed in escaping the cage and, in the meantime, become brothers again? Meanwhile, Eisheth's still on Earth and not happy that her husband's back in the cage!
1. Chapter 1

Brothers Again

By ROSSELLA1

Note: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters. Ties in with the book, War of the Sons, but if you Google Eisheth's name, you should be able to understand this without reading the book.

"NO!" Michael roared, throwing himself against the door to the cage. "THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! FATHER, PLEASE!" The archangel cried, rattling the bars. "YOU NEED TO LET ME OUT!"

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "That's not going to work."

With a growl, Michael departed from his vessel, letting it drop to the floor of the cage as the angel grew to his full height. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU WE WOULDN'T BE HERE!"

Okay, that was too much. "My fault?" Lucifer departed Sam's body. "I BEGGED YOU NOT TO FIGHT ME! HOW THE HELL IS IT MY FAULT?"

"YOU'RE THE ONE THAT COULDN'T DEAL WITH DAD LOVING ANYONE BUT US! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DISOBEYED OUR FATHER! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GOT KICKED OUT OF HEAVEN! YO-"

"YEAH, AND YOU'RE THE ONE WHO THREW ME OUT! I BEGGED…" Lucifer faltered. "_Begged_ you not to…to just listen to me…" He shook his head. "You don't like it here, Mike? Well, I've got news for you. I've been living here for millennia and it never gets any better." Lucifer paused to let the words sink in.

Michael opened his mouth, but just as quickly closed it. His face contorted, teeth grinding. And then, he fell to the floor. "FATHER!" He cried out. "YOU HAVE TO LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Sighing, Lucifer felt some of the anger leave him. As much as he resented Michael forgetting them stuck in this mess in the first place, Lucifer's memory of the despair that had wracked his grace when he had realized that there was no way out was still fresh and he had done exactly what Michael was doing. "It's going to be okay, Michael." Lucifer said, quietly, and walked over to sit next to his older brother, draping a wing across Michael's shoulder. Before, Lucifer had been alone. Now, he had his big brother. Their graces intermingled instinctively, as they always had when one had been upset, leaving Lucifer no doubt that their combined power would find a way out of the cage.

…..

It was a full hour (or possibly a full day; time was strange in the cage) before Michael gave a sniff and sat up. "So, what is there to do around here?"

Lucifer shrugged. "Nothing much." He smirked. "Or there didn't used to be!" He rose and stalked over to where Sam and Adam were huddled together in the corner. Seeing this, Sam quickly positioned his younger brother behind him.

"Stay back!" Sam growled, trying to mask his fear.

"Don't worry." Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Your precious brother will be fine." He reached forward and tore Sam away from Adam, throwing the older Winchester to the middle of the cage.

"Sam!" Adam cried out, starting to rise.

"Stay out of this." Lucifer ordered, pushing Adam to the side.

"What are you doing?" Michael asked, rising, as Lucifer approached Sam.

"This little maggot threw us both in here. You want something to do? Why don't we punish him for his sins?" Lucifer replied. Sam tried to scramble away, but Lucifer just yanked him back.

Michael frowned. "You're talking about torture. I will have no part in this."

"No, brother." Lucifer replied calmly. "I am talking about justice."

Michael scoffed. "Is that what they're calling it these days?"

Lucifer frowned. "That doesn't mean what…" Giving up, he shook his head. They were going to be in Hell for a while; Michael could learn about innuendos later. "He's the reason we're in here, Michael! He threw me in and that wasn't enough so he grabbed you, too! We're going to be here for…" Lucifer shook his head. "Father knows how long. And it's all because of him."

Lucifer could see the rage in Michael's eyes, but his brother held it back. "I know. But the punishment can wait until the wrong he has done to us is less fresh in our minds. If we do it now, we may deal out more pain than is just."

The Devil sighed. Leave it to Michael to want to reason in the midst of chaos. Oh, well. Lucifer needed Michael's cooperation and that meant regaining his trust. "Alright." Lucifer replied stiffly, and went to take his place next to his brother. It didn't matter much, he told himself. After all, it wasn't like Sam was going anywhere anytime soon.

…..

Of course, Lucifer wasn't entirely right on that part. It wasn't long after that that Castiel descended into Hell, slipping through the bars of the cage.

"Brother!" Michael cried out, trying to reach out to Castiel. "Please let us out of here!"  
Lucifer held no such delusion that the brother who had just helped imprison them would willingly, but he saw no reason why Castiel should be allowed a choice. After all, Michael and Lucifer were archangels and if they both wanted Castiel's aid, Castiel would either give it or perish. They both leapt forward, one intending to embrace, the other to imprison. Both hit an invisible wall. None of them had been expecting this, but Michael and Lucifer knew what it meant.

"FATHER!" Michael cried out. "FATHER, PLEASE LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"FATHER! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE AGAIN! PLEAE DON'T LEAVE ME IN HERE!"

"MY SONS." A loud voice reverberated throughout the cage. "I AM SORRY, BUT YOU NEED TIME OUTS."

Then, the wall disappeared and the two brothers fell forward. A sense of loss permeated the cage, and they knew that their Father had left. Castiel had disappeared and taken Sam's body with him, but had neglected to rescue Sam's soul.

'Oh, well.' Lucifer thought. Souls were more fun anyway. One could slice and pry at them, then heal them up to begin again. He glanced at Michael, who appeared to be in a state of shock, staring up at the ceiling of the cage, as if their Father could reappear any second. 'Time to play the dutiful brother again.' Lucifer thought, and approached Michael. "Come on, Mike." Lucifer urged, pulling his brother away from his place and to the edge of the cage. "Let's sit down."


	2. Chapter 2

Ch.2

By ROSSELLA1

Note: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters. Oh, and the Necronomicon idea comes from, One Year Gone, which in turn took it from Lovecraft. Don't own either of those.

When Eisheth had first heard of her husband and their brother being thrown back into the Cage, she had laughed the rumors off. After all, who could possibly do that to two archangels? But as time went on, and all traces of Lucifer on Earth started to disappear, she was forced to face the truth. Her husband was back in Hell. And now she didn't even have Abbadon to carry messages to him. That meant she'd either have to connive the new King of Hell into letting her through to talk to him or she was on her own. Still, not everything was hopeless. The seals were broken, which meant that it would be a whole lot easier to break Lucifer free. But it still wouldn't be that easy. That secret would be protected by the angels. She supposed that she could always go to Raphael; her brother was almost as eager as she to free their siblings and get the Apocalypse on the road. But she didn't trust him not to kill her after they had freed their loved ones. Besides, she doubted there was anything she could give him that she didn't already have. That left finding a way to talk to her husband.

Finding the place where he was imprisoned was surprisingly easy. All Eisheth had to do was look for the area that had suddenly blown up at the same time Lucifer had been set free. Ironically (but not unexpectedly), that was a convent. Next, she had to find the sacrifices necessary to contact him. She simply went to the nearest Church with a signup sheet, asking for volunteers in helping to clean up the wreckage. On the appointed day and time, the people came to the wreckage, Eisheth slit their throats, and said the spell that would allow her to communicate with her husband.

"Oh, Lucifer, Morning Star, are you there?" She asked, hardly daring to hope that finally, after all these long years, she would be able to speak with her husband. Her love. Her-

"What the fuck?" A familiar voice echoed throughout the area.

"Lucifer!" Eisheth couldn't contain her glee. "Is that really you? I thought-"

"Eisheth?"

"Yes! It is I! Your most beloved wife!"

"That slut?" Another voice, equally familiar but not nearly as welcome, said. "How many people did you have to kill to talk to us?"

Eisheth smirked. Gone were the days when Michael scared her. Now, he was locked up with Lucifer, who would surely deal with him for talking that way to her. "No one's talking to you, brother dear." She sneered. "Now, do be a dear and let the grownups talk."

"You wouldn't be so smug if I was up there."

"Well you're not and Lucifer's going to-"

"Enough!" Lucifer's voice rang out. "Eisheth, show Micahel some respect. Michael…just relax for a bit."

"Yes, sir." Eisheth replied, dutifully. She had no idea why Lucifer was showing Michael mercy, but, if that was what Lucifer believed best, she would obey, and demonstrate how loyal she was to her husband. Michael scoffed but didn't reply.

"Eisheth." Her husband said. "How did you escape from the Scrolls."

"Oh," She waved a hand, "some idiot broke them open and let me out."

"Thank Father." Her husband breathed. "I should never have trusted Abbadon. I hope you realize it was never my intention for him to seal you in the jar."

"Of course." Eisheth smiled. "The Winchester's tried to tell me otherwise but I knew you loved me. You were just tricked by Lilith and Abbadon."

"And I'm sorry. But I promise, once you break us out of here, I'll make it up to you."

"About that…" Eisheth frowned. "I was hoping you had some ideas on how to do it, 'cause I have no idea where to start."

"Well," Lucifer replied, "the Seals are broken, so all we need is a spell. Unfortunately, the only ones I know of are in the Necronomicon and there aren't many of those left."

"Don't worry!" Eisheth answered cheerfully. "I'll find one."

"Good. It's best you start now, the connection won't last forever and the sooner you find it, the sooner we can be together again.."

"Of course. " Eisheth felt a tear leaking from her vessel's eye. "Goodbye, my love."

"Goodbye, my most beloved wife."

Before either of them could break down, Eisheth turned away. She would prove to Lucifer that she was worthy of his love and, together, they would rule the world. Wading through the bodies, she headed towards the nearest internet café.

…..

"Okay." Lucifer said, once he was sure that Eisheth was gone. "Now, you can speak."

Not waiting for any more of an invitation, Michael opened his mouth. "We should not be working with that abomination! She is a whore who was never intended for you in the first place! She betrayed our Father all so she could be with you!"

"I'm not justifying it!" Lucifer held his hands in the air, in a gesture of peace. "But we need to get out of here somehow and, until someone else comes along, Eisheth is our best bet."

"I don't like it."

Lucifer sighed. "I don't either. I've had some time to…" He glanced away from his brother, and shook his head. "What does it matter now?" He muttered, as if to himself, but loud enough for Michael to hear. "But it's our best shot." Michael huffed, crossing his arms. "We can deal out justice when she gets us out."

"She's your wife. Why are you so eager for her to be punished?"

"I'm not!" Lucifer protested, then let his head drop. "But…" He turned away. "Never mind. It doesn't matter, anymore." He plopped down on the far side of the cage.

There was a pause, then, "No, what were you going to say?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But I-"

"Please, Michael! You wouldn't understand." Lucifer snorted. "Nor would you care."

"If that's what you really want…" Michael trailed off. Lucifer didn't reply. There was silence and then, a few seconds later, he heard Michael sit down on the opposite side of the cage.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch.3

By ROSSELLA1

Note: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters. 

Michael sat facing his brother, staring at the Devil's back. He knew that he shouldn't care; Lucifer had betrayed their family and if he was upset, then he deserved it. But the older archangel couldn't help it; his big brother instincts screamed to make whatever was bothering Lucifer go away. However, Michael also knew that if he didn't approach this situation exactly the right way, he'd never get Lucifer to talk. And so he waited for a while for his brother to calm down. And he waited. And he waited. Finally, after a couple of days (or at least he thought it was that long), Lucifer's shoulders seemed to relax.

"So," Michael spoke up, "Eisheth's going to help us."

"Yup."

"Nice of her."

"Yeah."

"But you're still okay with punishing her?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"So, now you want to hear what I have to say?"

"Yes."

Lucifer sighed. "Okay. The truth is…I never wanted Eisheth to be my wife. Or Naamah. Or Agrat."

"It takes two…or four to form a union." Michael sneered. "You want me to believe they forced you into it?"

"See!" Lucifer huffed. "This is what always happens! You never give me a chance to defend myself!"

"Because you-" Michael cut himself off. "Okay, I'm sorry. Finish."

"Well, now I don't want to."

"But I want you to."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"Well, too bad."

"Luci…" Michael pleaded.

Lucifer sighed, apparently won over by his childhood nickname. "Alright." He kept his back to Michael. "When I rebelled against our Father, I knew I needed all the support I could." Lucifer's voice lowered to a whisper. "I felt so alone, Mike. I just… it seemed like no one understood how I felt. At first…I tried to fight it, but I just couldn't." The archangel swallowed and his voice returned to normal. "Eisheth, Agrat, and Naamah wanted to come with me, but only as my wives. I knew it was corrupt; they're our sisters, after all! But I was desperate. You have to understand!" Michael's brother pleaded. "None of you understood! You called me an abomination! I felt… for the first time I was alone. I was willing to do anything jus…" Lucifer's shoulders shook and Micahel realized, with an unfamiliar sense of guilt, that his brother was crying, " just for someone… you weren't there, Mike!" The devil's voice took on an accusing tone.

"I'm…I was only trying…" Nothing Michael could think of seemed to be the right words.

Lucifer shook his head. "I guess it doesn't matter, now." He said, his voice hardening.

"Luci, I-"

"No." Lucifer cut him off. "You promised to listen, not judge!" Michael guessed that he shouldn't have been surprised that Luci mistook his intent, but he was.

"But I wasn't-"

"Do you want to hear or not?"

Michael was torn between trying to fix things with his little brother and hearing the rest of the story. But somehow he knew that Lucifer wouldn't let Michael speak enough to reveal his intentions, so in the end, he nodded. "Finish."

"I fully intended to break things off, once I became more powerful…but it didn't get that far." Lucifer turned to look at him, his expression unreadable.

Michael wanted to apologize; to make everything better. But, "Father told me-"

"I know." Lucifer cut him off. "You had to make a choice between Father and me and you chose Dad."

"It wasn't that easy, Lucifer." Michael felt he had the right to protest. "It wasn't just you or Father. It was you or most of our family. I had to choose between two groups of people I loved and I chose the bigger group. It's not like there was a way to win."

Lucifer sighed. "Right." Michael couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not. "So, what's been going on since I left?"

"Well, pretty much everything. Dad left, Gabriel left…"


	4. Chapter 4

Ch.4

By ROSSELLA1

Note: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters. This overlaps with, One Year Gone.

"And Castiel dared to choose the Winchester's over his own brothers?" Lucifer steamed. While this wasn't news to him, it still enraged him that their younger brother had betrayed them all. If Castiel had sided with Michael, that would have been one thing, but Lucifer couldn't tolerate the idea of him betraying the entire family.

"Yes." Michael nodded, giving a smug smile. "But no doubt that will not go unpunished for long."

Lucifer shrugged. "I don't know about that."

"What do you mean?"

"Our Father resurrected Castiel and helped him take Sam's body out of the cage. Why would he do that if he didn't agree with Castiel? Then-"

"That was a misunderstanding, no doubt." Michael rose to his feet, glaring down at Lucifer. "It is not up to us to question our Father's ways."

Lucifer shrugged. "I suppose you're right." Starting a fight with Michael over this point was useless. He'd planted the seed; now all the Devil had to do was regain his brother's trust. "Speaking of our Father," Lucifer continued, "we have work to do." Some of the suspicion left Michael's eyes, and Lucifer reached up to take his brother's hand, pulling him back down.

"What do you mean?"

Lucifer tilted his head to the side, indicating where Sam and Adam were huddled together in a corner. "The younger Winchester is blameless, but Sam knew our Father's will and blatantly disregarded it. We would be poor excuses for sons if we left that unpunished."

Michael frowned. "You're talking about torture."

"No, " Lucifer sighed, "I'm talking about justice. Sam was allowed to jump into the Cage for a reason; so that he could be punished for his actions. If it's true that our Father has a plan-"

"He does."

"Right. Then perhaps it is up to us to punish him." Lucifer could see Michael mulling this over.

"You're right." His older brother finally decided, and Lucifer had to hide his grin. "But what is a suitable punishment?"

"I've got some ideas."

…..

Finding someone to do the summoning was a lot easier said than done. There were surprisingly few covens of witches big enough to pull it off and, the few that were big enough, usually ended up not being powerful enough. Then, of course, Eisheth had to avoid any activity that could bring Sammy boy down on her (although she was tempted; damn she had been looking forward to making love to Lucifer in that body). Finally, after two months, Eisheth found a centuries old coven that had just kept building and building until there were well over fifty witches in it. Conveniently enough, the Coven had been working on a similar goal; they wanted to free the Princes of Hell. The location of said Coven? Salem, Massachussets.

Connie, or Constance Ball, had led the original Salem Coven in an attempt to raise the Princes and bind them to her will before and had very nearly succeeded. If it hadn't been for Nathaniel Winchester and his family, Eisheth would have been reunited with her husband and they would have been ruling the world for the past three centuries. As it was, the Winchesters had ruined everything and Connie had been forced to put her plan on hold for a few centuries. The witch had nearly everything she needed for the summoning. Except for human sacrifices to resurrect her old coven and some extra mojo. The woman couldn't believe her luck when Eisheth showed up to help; she didn't even bother to ask what the demon wanted in return, which was more than fine with Eisheth. The more powerful the witch thought she'd be, the more willing she'd be to complete the ritual. Now, it was just a matter of getting everything ready. In a little over nine months, she and Lucifer would be reunited and their reign would begin.

….

Lucifer gave a wave of his hand and a horizontal St. Andrew's Cross appeared, with Sam chained to it. He heard Adam uncurl himself, saying his brother's name, and waved his hand, knocking the boy down. "This doesn't concern you, boy."

"Stay where you are, Adam. Don't make them mad." Sam told his brother, although Lucifer could see a glimmer of fear amongst the defiance.

Michael got up, peering down at Sam in a way that reminded Lucifer of how Michael looked when they first saw the Earth together. Lucifer allowed himself to grin. They had plenty of time to rebuild that relationship.

Michael glanced back up at Lucifer. "Now what?"

"Well, the great thing about human souls is that there're endless ways to punish them. And," Lucifer gestured around the cage, causing a variety of torture devices to appear, "we might not be able to get out, but we've still got our powers. We can have as many tools as we want." The thing about Michael, was that he wasn't completely unfamiliar with torture. Lucifer had seen him punish far too many of their brethren during the war and, from what he'd heard, after their Father had left, brainwashing those who opposed Michael's reign had become the norm. The difference was, that Michael wasn't used to punishing humans. Souls were sent to Heaven to be protected. Lucifer, on the other hand, had had plenty of practice with humans, demons, angels, and pretty much everything else in existence. The only thing Lucifer had to do was teach Michael how humans were different from angels. It wouldn't do to have his brother use the same techniques on Sam that he used on angels. "Now, what you need to remember, is that humans aren't the same as angels. They don't have wings, they don't have graces, or any of that other fun stuff."

Michael snorted. "Really? I would have never guessed." He walked around the cage, examining the different devices.

"What they do have are finger tips, eyes, genitals, nipples, feet, and a whole other slew of sensitive spots. They're also highly susceptible to psychological torture, but we'll get to that a different day. Now-"

"What does this one do?" Michael interrupted, picking up one object.

Lucifer moved closer and smirked when he saw that it was a thumbscrew. "Why don't I show you instead of tell you?" Taking the device from Michael, he approached the bed where Sam lay and attached it to the Winchester's thumb. "You're really going to wish you hadn't trapped us in here, Sam." And then he started tightening the screw and screams resounded throughout the cage.


End file.
